Teacher raped by boy with history of violence

A teacher was raped as she marked books in a classroom by a 15-year-old pupil who it emerged yesterday had a history of sexual aggression.

The boy pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to raping the 28-year-old woman on her second day in the post, in a case which has again raised questions about the safety of secondary schools and the system for dealing with dangerous pupils.

In a six-month period before the attack, in September last year, the boy had come to the attention of police on at least three occasions.

However, the school is understood to have known nothing of his history.

Inquiries have begun to establish how a boy with an apparently escalating pattern of aggression towards women was not picked up by the system.

In March last year, a girl at another school is understood to have told British Transport Police she was threatened with rape by a group of youths as she travelled in London. The 15-year-old is suspected of being one of the group.

The following month, he was arrested after allegedly confronting a woman in her 20s in Kennington Park, south London, and pushing her over. She said the attacker sat on her and threatened her with sexual violence.

The boy was not charged because of insufficient scientific evidence.

At the time of the rape, on Sept 7 last year, he was awaiting a court appearance after being charged with possession of a knife. He was convicted of the knife offence while in custody for the rape.

Despite these incidents, the youth was free to prowl school corridors seeking a victim. The Old Bailey heard he had approached another woman teacher before finding his victim marking books.

Scotland Yard is trying to establish whether details of the knife case, and the incident in Kennington Park, were shared with any other agencies, such as social services or local education departments, before the rape.

There will also be education and social services inquiries. An education official suggested that neither the local education authority nor social services knew he was a danger.

A central question will focus on an incident in the school last June when a pregnant cleaner suffered attempted rape. No suspect was identified and the boy did not feature in police inquiries.

Head teachers' unions said it was "highly unlikely" that the police would have informed the school that the youth had been questioned over previous sexual incidents and possession of a knife.

"Communication between schools and the police tends to be one way and the police do not, as a matter of course, give information to head teachers when pupils are questioned or arrested," said John Dunford, the general secretary of the Secondary Heads' Association.

Yesterday, the pupil admitted raping the woman after previously denying responsibility. The Old Bailey heard that he stripped her before subjecting her to a "sustained and violent" sexual attack, during which he bit her on the breast, butted her and threatened to kill her.

The woman, whose identity cannot be disclosed, has been unable to return to work.

A statement, read on her behalf, said: "It has been a gruelling wait for me and my family to see that justice has been done and this individual is prevented from harming anyone else."

She had been marking books at the end of the school day when the pupil, who is now 16, came in.

"She was aware that the door swung open but she didn't look round because this was a regular occurrence," said Brendan Kelly, prosecuting.

"She felt an arm around her neck, a strong arm. But she still, at that stage, thought that this was merely a student joking around. But the individual tightened his grip and pulled her out of her chair.

"He was telling her to be quiet. He dragged her the length of the classroom. He was a large boy, about 5ft 11in, and had no difficulty in dragging her in that way."

The teacher screamed and stabbed him with a pen. But the teenager applied even more force to her neck, clamping his hands around her windpipe.

He then pulled off her shirt and bit her on the breast, before pulling off her trousers and underwear.

The woman managed to hit the boy in the groin and tried to throw furniture at him, but he began hitting her with the back of his hand and threatened to kill her.

"He made it quite clear that he would kill her throughout the episode," Mr Kelly told the court. "He repeated the threat to kill her.

"It became clear that he intended to rape her vaginally. She tried all she could to resist. He headbutted her. The struggle continued, she thinks, for about 12 minutes."

The pupil, who had not met the teacher before the attack and was not in any of her classes, forced her to engage in oral sex. He then fled.

She had the presence of mind to retain fluids from the youth, the court was told.

She ran to the headmaster's office, where colleagues were unable to recognise her because her face was covered in blood.

In the medical room she collected the fluids in a paper cup and this was used later to identify her attacker, said Mr Kelly.

The rapist, who was remanded in custody, will be sentenced in June. Two other charges alleging sexual assault remain on file.

Tim Collins, the Tory education spokesman, said: "It is impossible to draw any conclusions from one horrific case. But people are undoubtedly concerned more generally about the rise in violent crime and the breakdown of discipline in our schools."